Bed-bottom



'UNITED STATES PATENT oEErcE.

J. F. KEELER, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

BED-BOTTOM.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 17,282, dated May 12, 1857,

To all 'whom t may concern Be it known that I, J. F. KEELER, of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elastic Bottoms for Bedsteads; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a view of'a bedstead with my improvement attached, and Fig. 2, a view of a longitudinal section of the same, in the direction of the line m in Fig. l.

Like letters represent like parts in the different views.

A, A, represent the frame of the bedstead.

B, B, the slats in the bottom. C, a strip of `leather or other suitable substance, which is secured to each slat, and which keeps the slats. at a uniform distance apart. D, D, the cords, one at each side of the bedstead, on which the slats D, are hung, by means of the eyelets E.

F, F, are springs, two on each side of the bedstead, and to these springs the cords D, D, are attached. The cords D, are also supported by being passed through the eyelets H, I-I, which eyelets are secured to the rails. The slats B, B', are not suspended by the cords D, D, but are secured to the rails, in anyV desirable manner. The eyelets E, and the eyelets H, alternate, so that there is an eyelet H, for supporting the cord, in every space between the slats.

Instead of the strip C, two strips, placed toward the ends of the slats, as seen at I, I, red lines, in Fig. l, may be used, being preferable. i

In all other kinds of spring or yielding bed bottoms, reliance is placed on the springing or yielding of the materials composing them, to adjust or lit them, to the body of the person lying thereon, but in this,

especially when the cords are unhooked from the springs, a downward pressure on one or more of the slats, produces, a corresponding upward pressure on the others, by means exclusively o-f the weight of the body, causing thereby a more perfect fit or adjustment ofthe slats to the body of the person, than can be obtained by springs alone.

When the cords are hooked to the springs, the tendency of the slats to adjust themselves to the body by its own pressure is aided by the springs, and when the weight or pressure is removed fromthe bed, the springs bring the slats to a horrizontal position with respect to each other, thus leaving the bed a level, although the last pressure may have been confined to one particular part.

The points of support for the slats, being at their eXtreme ends instead of toward the middle, as is the case with Howes patent, and some other kinds, having considerable spring, the weight or pressure upon them, cannot come outside of the support, and thus cause the support to act as a fulcrum for tipping or raising up the end opposite that on which the weight or pressure is placed, but both ends are'depressed by the weight, and each in an inverse ratio to its distance from the weight. The cords unhooked from the springs, are slack, and attached to the eXtreme eyelet H, afford elasticity to thebottom by their slackness.

`What I claim as my improvement, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is--- The eyelets E, and H, and the cords D, with or without the springs F, F, connected with the rails, and arranged in relation to the slats, B, substantially in the manner and for the purpose, set forth.

J F. KEELER.

Witnesses:

J. E. INeERsoLL, W. I-I. BURRIDGE. 

